The lethal capturing of a veteran Rochester cop late Thursday was a “cowardly ambush” that got here simply hours after the upstate metropolis was put underneath a state of emergency over gun crime.
Officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz, a 29-year veteran of the pressure, was shot useless in the course of the assault late Thursday, Chief David Smith introduced at a press convention early Friday.
Mazurkiewicz’s associate, eight-year veteran Sino Seng, was additionally shot within the decrease physique and has already been discharged from a hospital, the chief mentioned.
A lady bystander, who was not recognized, was additionally hit and handled on the scene for non-life-threatening accidents.
Even earlier than the officer’s dying was introduced, Mayor Malik Evans had referred to as it a “tragedy for our group” — and famous the way it got here simply hours after he had declared a state of emergency.
“The tragic gun violence in Rochester should come to an finish,” he mentioned late Thursday.
“At this time, we declared a gun violence emergency in our group and this capturing is proof that we're certainly in an emergency.”
The police chief grew emotional as he recalled how after Thursday’s declaration, he’d been requested, “how harmful is it on the market for the officers of the Rochester Police Division?”
“My response was that day-after-day the women and men of this division depart their residence not figuring out if they may return to see their households on the finish of their shift,” he mentioned.
“Ten hours later, Officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz — a father, a husband and a 29-year veteran of the Rochester Police Division — was killed within the line of obligation.”
The hero cop and his associate “had been attacked in a cowardly ambush and fell sufferer to the very violence in our group that we are attempting to fight,” Smith mentioned.
The mayor referred to as the lethal ambush “a clarion name for this group to talk up” about gun crime.
“It was Tony Mazurkiewicz at present. But it surely may very well be any of us on this room tomorrow,” he mentioned.
It was not instantly clear if there had been any arrests. Nonetheless, the police chief vowed that “the total pressure of the area’s regulation enforcement … is being utilized to convey whoever is answerable for this heinous act to justice.”
In his press convention earlier Thursday, the mayor mentioned the state of emergency was wanted due to “carnage” within the metropolis.
Final 12 months’s 81 homicides had been essentially the most ever within the metropolis, eclipsing a report that had stood for almost 30 years, the Democrat & Chronicle famous.
Even earlier than Thursday’s ambush, there had been greater than 40 homicides with 202 individuals shot, Evans famous in his emergency presser.
“The trajectory, except we alter one thing, would be the identical” as final 12 months’s painful tally, Evans mentioned.
“We are going to break information when it comes to the bloodshed and carnage in our streets.”
Post a Comment